


there, but never back again

by fatali_tais



Category: EXO (Band), Monsta X (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), Stray Kids (Band), The Hobbit - All Media Types, 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: M/M, Yoongi dies, bts/kpop 'the hobbit' au, jeon jungkook is kili, jimin is sad, jjk & tae die, jung hoseok is legolas, kim namjoon is bard, kim seokjin is gandalf, kim taehyung is fili, lan wangji is thranduil, min yoongi is thorin oakenshield, park jimin is bilbo, wie wuxian is dáin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24837832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatali_tais/pseuds/fatali_tais
Summary: park jimin goes off on an adventure at the side of the king under the mountain and his posse
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Lán Zhàn | Lán Wàngjī/Wèi Yīng | Wèi Wúxiàn, Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello!  
> it's taken me about 2 years to finally! publish this fic! so my writing style may change over the course of the novel & i'm sorry if it does 
> 
> anyway! enjoy!  
> \- tai

_why_ , park jimin grumbled to himself as he tugged at the reins of his stubborn, rather stout pony to get her moving again when she ground to a halt at the summit of yet another hill and refused to go one step further. _does this always happen to_ me _?_

_i’m a respectable man,_ he continued to himself, tugging insistently at his horse’s reins until she gave in with a snort and started slowly plodding up the slope. _i was perfectly fine in my nice small house and my garden… even with that rude chae minhwa knocking at my door and trying to take my silverware._

_I just don’t understand,_ he huffed as he eventually gave up on his stubborn beast of a horse, and hopped off the saddle to start tugging both the pony and his various packages uphill on foot. _why it had to be_ me.

maybe it was the goddess _gameunjang-aei_ feeling unusually cruel and deciding to pick a small creature to torment relentlessly with bad fate. or it was just the park luck kicking in again. his mother, the proud ai jaehwa, didn’t get this park luck that his father possessed. but of course, being the only child and all, jimin copped all the bad luck his father and line of ancestors had to offer.

and the troop of thirteen dwarves and a sorcerer did _not_ make his day any more enjoyable. and they weren’t civilised either –minus seokjin, but he was a sorcerer and sorcerers were renown for having good manners– not the slightest bit. they upturned tables, complained about the food, complained about the weather, started food fights and sword fights, burped, got drunk and ended up declaring war on each other while stumbling around drunkenly with their (still-sheathed) swords flailing from their hands.

kim taehyung and jeon jeongguk were the worst, being the youngest of the thirteen and also being min bloodline royalty. they were loud and cocky at best, arrogant and downright rude at the worst. jeongguk always purposely got jimin’s name wrong just to get a rise out of him, while taehyung laughed and slapped the smaller male on the back so hard that he was almost knocked over.

the others were slightly better, being older and less prone to the rowdy behaviour of their dongsaengs.

lee jihoon was the quietest by far, only joining in to give some sort of cynical or heavily sarcastic comment. he was more a warrior than a talker, something that jimin came to respect, especially when the elder saved him from one of the _bulgae_ (fire dogs) somewhere along the way.

chwe hansol was from roughly the same area as jihoon had, being his distant cousin and the son of one of the forge men that had worked in the king’s mountain. he and boo seungkwan – the reluctant fighter who seemed to have a love-hate relationship with hansol– had met jihoon on the road and travelled to the shire together. their fathers had been close, and had all served under the mountain king.

byun baekhyun, park chanyeol, do kyungsoo and oh sehun came in an unbreakable four, all childhood friends and close as brothers. they were closer to the king, as their mothers were connected in the confusing, complicated bloodline that would be too long to document and too difficult to even explain in words. all jimin knew was baekhyun’s mother and sehun’s mother had been kyungsoo’s mother’s cousins and the king’s third cousins, and chanyeol was connected through a great aunt who had been the sister of sehun’s grandmother. and everything after that was lost on poor jimin.

it didn’t help that dwarves had a habit of marrying cousins and second-cousins and thus making the family tree even messier.

with lee felix, it was easier. he was the youngest of the group, and was simply in the company because his father had been one of the mountain king’s advisors. he was in no way dragged into the min bloodline, but he was still treated like a little brother in the group, and certainly seemed to be the favourite with his strange western-lands accent and way of doing things.

chae hyungwon was the height. he always wielded two wickedly sharp swords and was unusually tall for a dwarf. even when hunched, he was a good few inches taller than every member in the company and a good foot taller than jimin. despite his height, he seemed to be the easiest member to get along with –unlike jihoon who seemed to be as approachable as a dragon with a knife– and easy to talk to. he definitely was more mellow than most of the dwarves in the company, and jimin warmed to him after he had gotten over the foot of height difference.

if hyungwon was the height, then son hyunwoo was the muscle. he had an impressive collection of scars littered over his upper back and shoulders, and one running through his eyebrow. he claimed it was from the battle for _gwangju_ –an old dwarfish district that had been overrun by the armies of _dokkaebi_ ( goblin-like demons ) that the remaining warriors from the mountain and the dwarvish army from the south set out to reclaim– but hyungwon had whispered when hyunwoo’s back was turned that he had just fallen into a thorn bush and got a scratch across the face for his troubles.

and last, but not least, there was the exiled king. min yoongi. he was a dwarf that jimin had a hard time reading and an even harder time trying to get along with. he was a brooding, solemn man, always serious-faced and rarely light. jimin had only seen him smile in very rare occasions, and that was a barely-there twitch of his lips whenever jeongguk and taehyung did something amusing, or when he talked of the quest to reclaim mount _jirisan_.

as far as jimin was concerned, the dwarfish king was practically made of stone. but he did have to privately admit to himself, and to his horse when he was far behind the group and therefore out of earshot, that whoever had the pleasure of carving min yoongi out of the said stone did a marvellous job.

but that was only on the rare occasion that jimin found the king bearable. on most days, he cursed that carver and cursed the rock that this stubborn, irritable king had sprung from.

today was one of those days. the group had finally made the difficult trek from jimin’s small hometown of busan up to the last homely home in the great wilderness –or so seokjin called it. yoongi had just sneered and spat out the word ‘ _elves_ ’ when the home was mentioned– to rest for a day.

jimin would just be glad to get off his stubborn pony –so stubborn that he had started calling it yoongi just to amuse himself– and have a nice bath, then trot down for a meal or two when he was ready. apparently, this wasn’t going to happen though, as their hosts grouped all fourteen of them together to keep an eye of them, and jimin found himself sat in between a silent jihoon and a rowdy taehyung, who was buddied up with jeongguk –like one would expect– and was having a fun time flicking food at the various elves positioned around them playing delicate instruments.

there was already a food fight going on after chanyeol had dumped his chalice full of water over baekyun’s head by accident –although, jimin was starting to wonder if it really had been an accident and not a ploy to ruin the poor elves’ dining hall– and had been hit with a fistful of lettuce leaves.

eventually, the food fight was brought to a swift finish when felix had thrown a bowl of rice at who he assumed was hansol and instead hit yoongi right smack bang in the face. jimin had struggled to hold back a laugh as the great and noble min yoongi slowly picked grains of rice out of his hair and scowled fiercely at the youngest member of the company.

unfortunately, however, he was soon been tidied up by a beautiful, ridiculously tall elfish maiden that jimin thought –rather pettishly, but he wouldn’t admit that– had far too much leg to be considered beautiful, and should rather be looked upon as a tree. a long, pale tree.

it was at that moment that jimin started to develop a small grudge against trees.

the rest of the table was silent, all eyes peering over at yoongi’s end of the table where he seemed to be grudgingly enjoying the attention from the tree-like elf. there was a heavy pause, then hyungwon snorted and the rest of the company erupted into muffled laughter and low whisperings.

“ _samchon_ looks like he’s enjoying himself.” taehyung muttered from behind his pile of rice and lettuce leaves, munching away on a stalk of what looked like celery.

jimin turned his head from where he had been staring at the two at the end and opted to join in on the conversation. “i thought he despised elven folk?”

“ah, he does.” seokjin nodded from his position opposite jeongguk, a carrot in one hand and a knife in the other. he looked comfortable under the elfish roof. too comfortable for jimin’s liking, who now didn’t like elves as much as he did when he had first arrived. “but he, like many others,” here the wizard gestured to the whole table of dwarves with a sweeping movement of his arm. “is only a man. and, whether he will accept it or not, men tend to like the odd bit of romance here and there.” he winked at jimin, then chopped off the end of his carrot.

jeongguk just snorted, casting a disapproving glance up at his uncle, who was now talking softly to the maiden in a way that made jimin’s heart sink into his stomach. “he has me and tae. what more could he want?”

“sex.” jihoon replied bluntly, catching seungkwan off-guard and making him choke on his water. hansol slapped on the back a few times, and got a glare for his help while jihoon continued, unconcerned about the reaction his statement caused. “he wants sex.”

“alright!” seokjin stood up hastily before jihoon could say any more and clapped his hands together, startling yoongi and causing him to immediately move away from the elf like nothing had happened ( _even though,_ jimin thought rather drily, _he had been shamelessly flirting with the hussy for the past ten minutes_.) much to the other dwarves’ amusement. “I believe we should all retire to our chambers and rest for the evening. thank you, lord xichen, for your generous hospitality.” he bowed in the direction of the elf lord, and received a small head bob in return.

jimin turned his head to study the elf lord again as he was herded out of the dining hall to the sleeping quarters below. lord lan xichen had a regal air to him, from the way he held himself to the way he talked. his long hair spilled down his shoulders in a long, black wave, straight and brushed, unlike the tangled locks of the dwarves of the company. he had unnaturally bright eyes, a piercing, strange shade of green that could almost be passed off as an off-white. seokjin, who had not followed the company down to bed, was talking to the elf lord now, a small smile on his face. they were obviously old friends, sharing in a joke that jimin was too far away to hear and probably too young to understand.

so, after another fleeting glance back, he eventually made his way down the stairs, past taehyung and jeongguk –who seemed to be plotting something again– and into the room that he shared with the other thirteen.

and it already stunk of dwarf.

great.

jimin cast an eye over the sleeping quarters, which were already muddied with dirt and discarded bits of clothing and weapons. there was an axe sticking out of one of the walls –courteousy of hyunwoo, he assumed, as the male was the only one who had enough muscle and power to drive an axe into a wall and get it to stay there– and a broken elvish vase on the floor. and, not for the first time, jimin wished he hadn’t travelled with a bunch of disrespectful dwarves.

he picked his way around the shards of porcelain –not after cleaning them up like a _good_ guest and and leaving a small note of apology where the vase used to sit of the ivory side table– and made it to his sleeping mat, which had obviously been stepped on a few times. he wrinkled his nose and brushed the dirt off before slipping beneath the covers. _ah_. this was much better than roughing it in the wilderness. the mattress was perfectly soft and smooth, the sheets were silky soft on his skin, cocooning him up in warm comfort that he hadn’t had the pleasure experiencing for a few weeks at the very least. 

as the others talked lowly around him and occasionally knocked over pieces of furniture, jimin found himself drifting off, lulled into sleep by the warmth of the soft sheets and the constant murmur of low voices. his eyes eventually slipped closed, and he dreamed of yoongi smiling a real smile at him and taking his hand in his own rough one, then leaning in close to press a small kiss to his lips.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the journey continues

the dream followed him around for the next month, appearing in his sleep rather rudely and without warning, brushing away other sleepy thoughts and half-formed dreams to plonk itself down right in the middle of jimin’s unconsciousness, completely unwanted.

and to make matters worse, it kept getting more detailed as it went along, like most pesky dreams did. and also had a nasty habit of making jimin wake up blushing red, and drawing curious questions from the rest of the company, while seokjin just eyed him in amusement but said nothing.

perhaps it was a good thing that they reached the mountains before the yoongi in his dreams –who always held his hand and kissed him at the right moments of the dream and seemed to glow in the light with his tangled black hair– proposed or something along those lines, or jimin might have woken up in tears. happy tears, but still tears.

the fact that they were closer to the dragon and the dwarfish gold, jimin’s dreams were soon overtaken by giant, firey beasts entangled with golden chains, scales encrusted with jewels and coins, towering over his yoongi so high their heads brushed against the very sky. these dreams always jolted the hobbit awake, sweat dripping down his cheeks to pool at the base of his neck. even though nothing really happened, the dream still filled jimin with unease and dread for what would come next.

the company had lost seokjin somewhere along the way when the sorcerer claimed he had to go off on important business and rode away on his horse before anyone could ask him why, leaving them to work their way through the forests of _sancheong_ on their own. jimin wondered why their one most helpful members of the group had decided to bail just as they needed him most, then ruled it down to getting sick of the dwarves. he didn’t blame him if that was the case, being heartily sick of the others himself and longing just to get a moment’s peace.

and of course, his wish was granted in the worst way possible, when he woke up to find his friends gone and himself trapped in the clutches of a particularly hungry, large _bulgae_ who would have ripped his head off if it wasn’t for jimin’s quick swipes with his sword, _sting_.

after killing the _bulgae_ –which he would later exaggerate to have had four long horns when it only had two, and to be almost seven metres tall– jimin had rushed off as fast as his short legs could go, following the oversized footprints of other fire dogs through the undergrowth until he reached where the monsters were fighting over which dwarf they could snack on first.

being small, jimin could easily slip through the legs of these towering beasts and quickly free his ~~friends~~ _acquaintances_ –which involved pushing them off ledges and onto dogs below to stun them– and one very grumpy min yoongi who didn’t thank him at _all_ –so he could add _ungrateful_ to the long list of things he hated about the exiled king– and who also barged past him _and_ –of all the _rude_ things to do– almost chopped his head off with a swing of his sword.

jimin almost regretted freeing the king in the first place.

_almost_.

(he completely forgot his anger when yoongi turned around and offered a small nod of thanks, glowing in the dim forest light while covered in _bulgae_ guts and sweat and yet still looking so damn _attractive_ that jimin momentarily forgot how to speak.)

(which meant when the two princes thanked him later, he could only reply with a scrambled sort of squeak that didn’t really sound like anything and just made him turn red.)

( jeongguk never let him live it down.)

soon after the encounter with the now dead _bulgae_ , the company ran into another group of elves. but these ones didn’t seem as welcoming and tolerant as lord xichen’s kin. they made their point very clear with a few dozen arrows nocked and ready to fly, paired with steely eyes and cold voices, addressing them like they were merely naughty fauntlings who had been caught trying to drown the family housecat. they were taken into custody immediately, locked into stone cells while yoongi was taken up to see the lord of the lands, the all great and powerful lan wangji. jimin assumed everything would go fine, as yoongi had seemed to be slowly warming up to elves, before he realised that lord wangji was the very one who had left yoongi’s people to suffer at the hands of the dragon all those years ago.

that was when he realised they were all going to be stuck in those cells for quite possibly the rest of eternity.

at the darkest hour, when all hope seemed lost, and jimin was lying on the dirty cell floor and giving up on ever being freed, their saviour stepped up out of the shadows in all his ridiculously tall, tree-like glory.

jung hoseok –the name he introduces himself as while ushering the company down the twisting stairs of the palace to get down to the basements below– was the nephew of sungki, and therefore an elven prince of some description. he didn’t seem like a prince. he was too … _sunny_ , jimin mused to himself while helping suho –who had been injured in the fight with the _bulgae_ – down the stairs. _sunny and quite talkative_. the prince had a somewhat sunny air, the polar opposite to his serious and solemn uncle who struck jimin as someone who would rather drown than laugh so freely.

hoseok was helpful, suggesting the barrels that were usually full of apples and such produce could be used as a hiding place –even at a whisper, his voice sounded loud in the quiet of the room– for all fourteen of them.

it took a bit of whispered arguing and bickering –jimin hadn’t bothered arguing, just scrambled into one of the upturned barrels and the adjusted himself so he was comfortable with only tufts of his brown hair showing above the rim. it took the others longer –first to bicker with hoseok and then yoongi about finding some other way out that didn’t involve losing their dwarvish dignity– to finally clamber into the barrels, still grumbling and complaining in low voices. hoseok bid them farewell in a cheery whisper, then there was a creak and jimin felt his stomach rise to his throat as the barrels rolled down a slope and dropped into the rushing river below.

the ride was less than pleasant, being knocked side-to-side by the rapids and other barrels colliding into his with dull thuds and harsh scratches, accompanied by loud curses and the use of many gods and goddesses’ names. at one point, jimin ended up being the footstool for hoseok as he shot an arrow at the following pack of _dokkaebi_ that had picked up their track from mirkwood and had been hunting them down. jimin himself was practically no use to the fight, being only armed with a short sword and not much upper body strength. he made a few swipes here and there, other hand clutching at the edge of his barrel lest he overbalanced and capsized. he did manage to score a good slice at one of the _dokkaebi_ warriors, but that seemed only to anger it.

hoseok noticed his struggles, and graciously came to his aid, long legs moving swiftly as he jumped over rocks and used the barrels as stepping stones. he –jimin reflected afterwards– had been by far the best fighter that day.

the dwarves weren’t overly helpless either, throwing knives and axes at the demon-like goblins that ran beside them on the riverbanks. one –baekhyun– managed to launch himself up onto the shoreline where he used the barrel as some sort of armour and hacked his way through the pack.

the group dropped down –jimin almost bit his tongue off trying to contain his shriek of surprise– a large waterfall to land with a completely undignified splash in the pool that was opposite the shores of the _sancheong-gun_ lake, home to the town of _sancheong-gun_.

hoseok had left them a few kilometres back, opting to instead and hold the _dokkaebi_ back with a few of his kin. not that the dwarves cared. they just grunted that elves were nothing but trouble –much to jimin’s annoyance– and continued on their way to the shores of the lake, wet and in foul moods.

(ever since hoseok , jimin had decided that elves weren’t too bad after all. it was just lord xichen’s people that he didn’t like. _the elves of sancheong_ –he nodded to himself as he trotted along after the company, clutching at the sodden hem of chanyeol’s coat to help him keep up– _aren’t too bad. not bad at all_.)

they bartered with a bargeman by the name of kim namjoon –who really looked like he should be home asleep in a bed– who eventually let them into his boat without much complaint (jimin didn’t blame him. facing thirteen angry dwarves who were soaked to the skin and obviously exhausted to the point of agitation was difficult at best. the fact that they were all armed just made matters worse for the bargeman) along with the fourteen barrels that he was supposed to take anyway.

(“the master needs them,” he sighed to jimin, who was helping him lift the barrels onboard. “for storage. apparently. i don’t know where they go after i bring them over. all i know is that i don’t get paid for it.”)

(jimin had a feeling that namjoon didn’t get to talk to many people.)

the ride across was easy enough, as there were rarely any other boats on the water –or so namjoon said in his deep, smooth voice as he stood by the tiller, eyes fixed on the town looming ahead– and the waters were still. eerily so. the air around was biting, blowing through jimin’s hair and sending chills down his spine that made him hug his coat closer with shaking hands. it didn’t help that they eventually had to pile back into their sodden barrels to have _fish_ –jimin would never eat those slimy, frozen, evil things ever again for as long as he lived– poured over their heads until they were covered.

and then they were glided past the gate, with only a minor hitch when a couple of guards came close to emptying jeongguk overboard. but namjoon with his smooth voice –that jimin could hear even when buried under a few inches of fish and ice– quickly talked his way out of trouble, and they were off again, floating down to the river until they came to a stop.

it was all a blur after that, on the account of jimin being so tired he couldn’t really concentrate on individual faces or events. all he knew was that the company took momentary refuge in namjoon’s house with his two younger sisters and brother –‘momentary’ as the thirteen dwarves, dragging jimin along behind and ignoring his protests, had promptly decided to go and get themselves arrested for trying to steal weapons from the armoury– and then ended up dining on pig trotters and fish in the master’s large mansion of a house.

(jimin didn’t care for pig trotters, and he had sworn off fish, but he ate them anyway because he was a good, _polite_ little hobbit who knew it was bad manners to refuse meals served up ever so generously by the host. even though this host looked like a bloated pig bladder and had the manners of one as well.)

he woke up the next morning with a headache –thanks to dwarves and their habit of getting absolutely hammered– and yoongi resting on his stomach. it was such a pity that they had to go to the mountain straight away, or jimin would’ve been content with lying on the floor in the weak patch of sun for something close to eternity. but alas, yoongi had woken up a few seconds after him and sprung away so fast he almost knocked taehyung over.

so jimin was left to put his slightly-less sodden coat on and shiver miserably as he was herded onto the boat by jihoon –who looked as annoyed and sleepy as jimin felt– and then pushed towards the bow next to yoongi as they cast off, leaving jeongguk, taehyung, hyungwon and kyungsoo behind. jimin wasn’t exactly sure why, but he knew jeongguk had been struck by one of those _dokkaebi_ arrows.

yoongi seemed a little hurt that his nephews had stayed behind –especially since he had told taehyung to come, only to be defied in a way that seemed to wound his kingly pride– as well as two of his own kinsmen, but he gave no complaint and instead stared out at the looming mountain with a faraway look in his eyes. jimin half-wanted to gain the king’s attention, draw him out of the thoughts in his head, maybe even coax a small smile onto his unusually pouty lips.

but he didn’t.

he instead remained still, eyes fixed to the icy water below, not really seeing and instead thinking.

baekhyun had to slap him hard on the shoulder to get him off the boat and onto the rocky slopes at the summit of the mountain that seemed to stretch up and up into the half-cloudy sky. the daunting size of the mountain ahead didn’t seem to bother the dwarves, instead it put them into a good mood –which jimin now hated because they were far noisier and annoying when they were in good moods– and put a skip in their steps as they started up the steep slopes of the mountain.

it was jimin who spotted the giant stone statue of what appeared to be a _haetae_ –a cattle-like beast with one horn– crouched in the bare dirt with its lips pulled back into a toothy snarl, guarding a stair of stone steps.

being about a good twenty meters tall, it was hard to miss. jimin didn’t know how he was the only one who’d seen it –but the dwarves _had_ been busy messing around with each other, and they weren’t all too gifted in the area of sight– and it took a few seconds of him waving his finger wildly in the direction of the stone beast for the others to catch on. but once they saw it, the pace changed to a mad dash to be the first one up the stone steps.

jimin with his significantly less luggage and weapons –and just generally being lighter and faster than his companions– was the first up. he stood at the top with his hands on his hips, surveying the blank stone wall in front of him in thought. the others brushed past him impatiently, tapping at the wall with the blades of their swords and fingertips, feeling over the cold surface in search of a keyhole.

it was only as the moon began to rise that jimin’s keen gaze spotted the keyhole, tucked away to the side of the blank rock, now illuminated with silver rays of light. yoongi had looked so ecstatic when he was called back to the new discovery he looked like he might’ve kissed jimin right then and there –the hobbit would be lying if he hadn’t been secretly preparing himself for the moment– but it passed and the small male was simply shoved aside as the king moved forwards to shakily insert the key into the wall and then push on the stone, causing it to swing inwards to reveal a gaping hallway.

and then –much to jimin’s indignant protests and struggles– the hobbit was shoved unceremoniously into the hall and given instructions about what he was meant to do next. if you could call them instructions. yoongi had just looked him dead in the eye, gripped his shoulders and told him –no, _ordered_ him in his cold kingly voice that made jimin both swoon and tremble internally– not to come back unless he had a gem called the _arkenstone_ in his small hobbit hands.

(after closer inquiries with the rest of the company, he soon discovered that the arkenstone was a very powerful gem that gave immense power to its wearer. he also figured out that it was another one of yoongi’s birthrights, and was told in a half-joking, half-serious voice by felix that he may as well die at the hands of the dragon lurking within then come back without the stone.)

(jimin was now starting to think he would rather dress himself in a pork-cutlet jacket and wander into the dragon’s claws with nothing but a flower crown on his head, than face the wrath of the exiled king if he should come back empty-handed.)

so, eventually the male was sent off down the long, winding corridor to his death while the dwarves relaxed outside and _slept_ –the _nerve_ of them– and chatted amongst themselves.

meanwhile, jimin was having to struggle his way through cobwebs, dwarf skeletons and who _knows_ what else.

and while the treasure room had been very impressive to say the least –a sea of golden coins and priceless jewels did happen to tickle jimin’s fancy– the dragon lying right in the middle had been more so. the beast was at _least_ longer than all the dwarves laid down toe-to-head in a line –jimin had quietly measured the beast by stretching his arms out wide, then measured himself in the same way, and had came to the conclusion that maybe he wasn’t as fat as he had thought– and was armed with long, black talons and a mouthful of fangs. it had no wings –as the dragons of those parts often didn’t– and instead had a long mane of golden hair sprouting from its head down to the tip of its tail.

jimin assumed it flew in a wriggling sort of way, much like how a worm moved through the soil. but he would rather not test his theory in such a time, and instead started looking for the prized Arkenstone.

it swiftly became _that damn piece of rock_ to jimin, as he had searched for at least ten minutes and came up empty. there were a few large, impressive jewels that could’ve been it. but jimin had a gut feeling that each stone he picked up weren’t it. annoyed, he tossed one particularly large, white piece of quartz away without thinking.

needless to say, the domino effect spiralling from that one careless move ended up with the dragon awaking from its slumber, and chasing jimin around and around the treasure room with its fire.

this one didn’t speak –either it was too stupid, or it felt no need to waste words on someone of such little value– and instead chased the poor hobbit up and out of the halls with fire hot of his heels and licking at his feet.

and the dragon soon followed after him, weaving through corridors and rooms before it burst through the front entrance with a loud boom and snarl that made jimin’s legs turn to jelly and his heart skip a few thousand beats.

maybe the beast was intelligent, as it immediately took off with an awful scream into the sky, twisting and turning through the biting winds, yellow eyes fixed on the distant town set in the middle of the lake.

jimin trembled as he watched, dreading what would happen to namjoon, the two princes, and the rest of the company who had been left back there.

hansol came up behind him –seungkwan dragging his feet along after him and complaining about his legs aching– eyes fixed at the disappearing speck in the sky above. he tugged gently at the sleeve of jimin’s brown coat, looking sad as jimin turned his head to look at him. “come on, jimin-ah. let’s go inside.”

jimin reluctantly obeyed, turning back to catch a glimpse of the quiet town sat on the icy lake before trudging after the others back into the mouth of the mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please tell me what you think!  
> \- tai

**Author's Note:**

> tell me what you think so far!  
> \- tai


End file.
